The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Peter Jackson loads everybody back into the hobbit cart to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's pre-Lord of the Rings novel. Martin Freeman ("Sherlock") plays the young Bilbo Baggins, sent on an epic quest by wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to stop a marauding dragon. The tone is notably more juvenile, and the story has been much inflated to fill out three whole films. Still, fans of Jackson's earlier work should be ecstatic to have more of it on the big screen.169 minutes PG-13.